1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the use of a porous polymer plastic to replace the starch molds used in the manufacture of food and non-food products. More particularly the invention covers molds containing a porous polymer plastic, method of making molded products, and products made therefrom.
2. Description of Related Art
Molded products, such as confectionery products are prepared by depositing a fluid mass into a preformed mold, allowing the fluid mass to solidify or gel therein and removing the solidified or gelled product from the mold. Preformed depressions in a bed of dry powdered starch are the most commonly used method.
There have been several recent developments in the molding industry which have attempted to eliminate the use of starch. Starch processing has many drawbacks; the dustiness is an obvious disadvantage and, going along with it, the explosion hazard. The continuous use of starch also creates a microbiological problem for, in spite of the required heating, drying, and sifting, the starch is never sterile, in fact molding starch can have high bacterial counts. Sifting never eliminates all foreign matter and splinters of wood from broken trays and confectionery residues may contaminate the products. In addition rodents can be a serious problem in the base of the machines and can cause further serious contamination.
"Starchless" molding technology has developed from the use of metal molds with compressed air ejection of the pieces. In addition, rubber and silicone rubber molds have been used for some types of fondant, caramels, and toffees. Plastic coated "drop" rolls have also been used for certain cremes and pastes. The starchless molds are usually constructed in a tray form, each of which may contain a hundred or more depressions with the trays being operatively connected with one another to form a continuous belt or conveyor. In a continuous starchless molding operation for soft confections, each mold is typically coated with a special release agent, the fluid confectionery recipe ingredients are then cast or deposited into the starchless mold (depositing), solidified therein (tempering), mechanically ejected therefrom (demolding), cleaned and coated with fresh release agent for recycling. In demolding, the mechanical ejection may be accomplished by mechanical fingers which force the gelled composition from a deformed flexible mold (e.g., molds constructed of synthetic or natural rubber molds) or by air expulsion from a rigid mold. One of the disadvantages with such starchless molding techniques is the cost of preparing and changing molds which is very high resulting in the restricted use of such molds to well established products with assured markets rather than to products being field tested on an experimental basis.
Starchless molding procedures also require maintenance. In a continuous operation, each mold is cleaned so that it is free from solidified confectionery product and microbial contamination before recoating with fresh release agent and recycling. Critical processing factors need to be developed for effective air demolding. These include the size and configuration of the holes within the base of the mold impression, the type of release agent and how it is applied, the mold design and construction, air pressure, cooling time and conditions and so forth.
In this regard, incomplete and non-uniform release of the solidified confectionery product from the mold are particularly troublesome problems since sugar solutions tend to stick to any mold surface. Numerous proposals have been made to improve upon the release of the solidified confectionery product from the mold. In an attempt to overcome these problems, polytetrafluoroethylene is conventionally used as a permanent mold coating. For soft confections, a temporary release agent coating (e.g., acetylated monoglyceride) is necessarily applied before each deposition of confection into the mold.
According to the present invention, the disadvantages of starch molding as well as the additional "starchless molding" techniques have been obviated by the use of a porous polymer plastic which functions similar to starch.